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Scotland will not approve the construction of high-powered artificial intelligence (AI) data centres for at least a year while new national regulations are developed, Euronews reported.
A resolution adopted by the Scottish Parliament states that no planning or permitting decisions on AI data centres should be made until the government publishes national guidelines, which are expected within the next 12 months.
Data centres provide the computing power needed to train and operate AI systems, but they can consume vast amounts of electricity and water, prompting growing concerns. Questions have been raised over whether Scotland’s energy grid will be able to cope with a sharp increase in demand, while there are also concerns about the impact of new facilities on carbon emissions and local communities.
The Scottish government has also made environmental impact assessments mandatory for all new data centres with a capacity of more than 50 MW.